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Ken Shamrock vs. Kimbo Slice will headline the Bellator MMA event on June 20th inside the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. The bout is scheduled to take place at heavyweight, and will air on Spike TV. This is a rematch of the fight that never was from October 4, 2008 when they were booked to headline an Elite XC show on CBS.

The day of their originally scheduled bout, Shamrock suffered a cut over his left eye and had to withdraw. There was controversy surrounding this since Shamrock was upset when he learned how much more Slice was being paid then him, and asked for an increase in salary which was denied.

Seth Petruzelli, who was already fighting on the card, accepted the change of opponent to Kimbo on the shortest of notice and knocked out the backyard brawler in 14 seconds. Allegations from Petruzelli stating he was told not to take Kimbo down, along with huge money losses from the advertised main event falling through, caused Elite XC to file for bankruptcy and then close their doors seventeen days later. Continue reading →

Bitch Planet has a strong feminist component that reinforces the message of self-acceptance when everything around us says we’re not good enough. While the male perspective might roll their eyes at this type of social commentary that doesn’t appeal to them, the reality is, it does.

Kelly Sue DeConnick has made Bitch Planet an enthralling and entertaining premise for the comic book medium that fits like a glove in all its splendor. The creators have laid out a format where every third issue will shy away from the main narrative and focus on the origin story of a specific character. Continue reading →

On November 27, 1995, I turned on the TV to watch WWF Action Zone and expected it to be just another episode of recaps and squash matches. You can imagine my surprise when the entire show revolved around the shocking news that the night before at Madison Square Garden, Diesel pinned Bob Backlund in 8 seconds to become the new WWF Champion.

“Huh” was my first reaction followed by “Really?” as I found myself disillusioned with this turn of events. Back then, I bought anything Vince McMahon was selling, however, something about this transaction felt hollow. In the end, Diesel never showed the fans why he was worthy of his instant push into the limelight and was the least profitable champion of all time.

Take that, founding father of the highly successful nWo!

There is a lot of talk in the wrestling world about Roman Reigns these days. Is he ready to be “the guy” in WWE? I feel he needs more time to mature as a performer. Plus, he hasn’t had that one hot angle to distinguish himself.

When it was first announced that Marvel obtained the comic book rights for Star Wars, everyone wondered what kind of stories we would get. Instead of looking towards the Expanded Universe, the publisher is revisiting the familiar with the franchise’s most infamous character in Darth Vader. Dark Horse Comics produced several limited run Vader books over the years.

Most of them did a great job of highlighting the dark lord’s ruthless aggression, but Kieron Gillen goes into uncharted waters by exploring Vader’s psychology at a time where he has lost favor with Emperor Palatine. Continue reading →

Can a female wrestler headline a WWE pay-per-view event? Former NXT women’s champion Charlotte believes it can happen, as she stated in an interview with the Gorilla Position podcast, “I know one day I will main event a pay-per-view. It might not be WrestleMania, but it will be a pay-per-view.” The idealist in me says it can and should happen, but WWE isn’t currently at a creative junction where they can make this a reality.

Charlotte deserves a lot credit for stepping up and publicly setting this goal. Women’s sports in general has a distinction of being second rate due to a gender bias that is ingrained in our culture. If you get tickets to an L.A. Sparks game, you’re checking out women’s basketball. If you go a Boston Celtics game, you’re simply enjoying a basketball game with no designation attached. Continue reading →

The first edition of The Raw Deal was mired in technical problems on Blog Talk Radio, but Frank Dee and myself broke down the 2/9 edition of Monday Night Raw with insightful analysis. We also share our their thoughts on Rikishi being announced for the WWE Hall of Fame, thoughts on the upcoming Fast Lane PPV, possible Stardust vs. Goldust and Bray Wyatt vs. Undertaker feuds, is Vince McMahon changing his mind about the Wrestlemania main event? Plus thoughts on NXT, DDP, the Grammys, and more!

Click here to check our the show at Gerweck.net: Pro Wrestling Since 1997

FINALLY, after months of negotiations and years of audience demand, Spider-Man is now a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel has never been able to use the iconic wall crawler in their films because Sony purchased the movie rights in 1999.

The deal was announced late Monday night is a partnership between Marvel Studios and Sony where Spider-Man will appear in a Marvel Studios film, which will see him rub shoulders with The Avengers. Also, four of Marvel’s Phase 3 films have been pushed back as a new Spider-Man movie opens in theaters on July 28, 2017.

Sony has fumbled the ball with this franchise since 2007 with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 being the last straw. An e-mail from the “Sony Hack” revealed that Marvel president Alan Fine was highly critical of the Sony’sscript two years before the movie’s release. Continue reading →

Superman is more than a comic book character who saves the day by leaping into action in a single bound.

He is an ideal that we all strive for every single day. At least, that is what most people would have told you several years ago.

In 2015, the general consensus is that he’s too powerful, and therefore he’s boring and unrelatable.

When you peel back all the layers of contempt that didn’t exist a generation ago, the answer is more intuitive than a super-powered skill set. The affluence of Superman’s deeds still causes us to look inward, but instead of finding inspiration we see an underlying arrogance in the ease of his endeavors.

That is how much of an imprint The Man of Steel has on our culture: that we look beyond the obvious nature of truth and justice only to see a pronounced representation of what we can’t do. Continue reading →

NXT kicks off in SWAFT fashion as Enzo Amore and Big Cass get the crowd going. They introduce Carmella who tells the crowd that Blue Pants (who defeated Carmella on 1/1/15) went back to the clearance rack. Emma comes out next with her usual bubble entrance and dance number.

- Emma vs. Carmella

The crowd loves Emma and they’re happy to see her back at Full Sail. Carmella doesn’t care and goes right in for the attack but Emma catches her with some forearms. Carmella is able to out power Emma to take control of the match. Emma bounces back with a two clotheslines. Emma looks to have things well in hand until Carmella delivers a drop toe hold and applies a leg scissors choke, forcing Emma to tap out.

The SWAFT crew celebrates in the ring while Emma looks dejected. Emma was a little more intense this time around and it was mentioned that Emma is back in NXT to jump start her career and she might be a little sour as a result. Carmella compliments Cass and Enzo’s act but she isn’t as over with the crowd, yet. Enzo has charisma for days and “you can’t teach that!”

One of the many great things that Kelly Sue DeConnick accomplishes with Bitch Planet is that she sets the reader on one path and then without a moment’s notice, sends us down a completely different course.

The fact that we don’t see it coming is one thing, but the manner of execution along with the emotion the narrative extracts is pure genius. The titular planet is a prison where men send troublesome women who are “noncompliance.” Continue reading →